An electronic fuse according to the above is described in SE-8201003-4. Two current paths are coupled in parallel in series with the load, one of the paths having low resistance and the other containing a current-limiting resistor. If the load current exceeds the predetermined value, it is limited first by the low-resistive current path being controlled to become non-conductive. After a fixed time determined by an RC dircuit the current is interrupted entirely by the second current path also becoming non-conductive.